Christianity in Early Modern Europe

In this course we will examine the theological ideas and social conditions that transformed European life and thought in the 16th and 17th centuries. Particular attention will be paid to the Protestant Reformation in Germany and England, as well as the Catholic Counter-Reformation and changes within the Roman Catholic Church. We will study theologians like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Teresa of Avila, alongside popular religious practices and music of the period. Finally, we will ask how cultural evolution and religious revolution influenced one another, especially in the emergence of popular English Bibles and in the European colonization of Africa and the Americas. 3 hrs. lect.